


invisible string

by jungwooed



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, but not for long, childhood bully
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:21:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27633335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jungwooed/pseuds/jungwooed
Summary: That’s why Renjun felt so hopelessly perplexed. Sitting in front of him on his dining table was the envelope, torn open in his excitement, that contained the information about his soulmate. Except it didn’t. Where there should have been a profile about his destined-to-be, there was a picture of his annoying neighbor-slash-enemy, Zhong Chenle.Or: Renjun wrestles with fate.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 38
Kudos: 139
Collections: Challenge #3 — soulmates





	invisible string

**Author's Note:**

> thank u so much to my lovely beta lex ( ao3 user boyfrendery ) !!! u made me feel so much more confident about this lil fic o' mine !!

When Renjun was nine, he’d made a list of all the ideal qualities of his soulmate. 

Firstly, they had to be shorter than him. This was non-negotiable, as Renjun refused to tote around some gangly-legged giant wherever he went. Tall people had a tendency to patronize him for being an average, non-freak-of-nature height, and Renjun would not stand for any teasing from his soulmate, thank you very much. 

Secondly, they had to be clean. Renjun was something of a neat freak, as his dad had called him many times. For his sixth birthday he had earnestly asked for a set of organizing boxes that he’d seen on an infomercial on TV. On the day of his birthday, he’d abandoned his party in favor of meticulously sorting his belongings by color into corresponding boxes. No one had noticed he was gone until it was time to blow out the candles. 

Lastly, the most absolutely important thing that Renjun _must positively have_ in a soulmate... is that they would be the first person he thinks of when he wakes up, and the last person he thinks of when he goes to sleep. 

These three particular preferences had not changed since he was nine (he’d scratched a few things off the list, like ‘has chest hair’ and ‘speaks italian’), and as 18-year-old, when Renjun sat down to take The Test, he fully intended on altering his answers to get the kind of soulmate he wanted, even if that was _technically_ illegal. 

In the ancient times before Renjun was born, there was no guarantee that you would be able to meet your soulmate at all. They could be anywhere in the world. His maternal grandmother had never met her soulmate, and by the time soulmate-matching technology was available, she went through the arduous process only to find out her soulmate had died shortly after birth. 

The Test was relatively new, only having been used large-scale in the past fifty years. Before, it had been used by private companies and corporations, who charged high prices for their matching services. For a long time, only the richest people could afford to be with their soulmate. There were always cheaper bootleg alternatives, but they were often fraudulent, pairing you up with another random, lonely soul before stealing your money and running to the other side of the world. 

Then, the protests started, beginning a new revolution of youth who demanded soulmate-matching to be made a universal human right. It spanned across continents, in the largest cities and the smallest rural towns. Only twenty years ago, The Test became administered by national governments, and any person, citizen or not, was entitled to take it. 

It opened up when you became a legal adult, so most people made an event of taking The Test on their 18th birthday. You didn’t have to take The Test if you didn’t want to, but Renjun had never met a single person who opted out. His friend Mark had taken The Test at the first opportunity he had, and ended up with a scary-looking skater boy named Yuta who lived in Japan. Neither of them had the money to visit each other, but Renjun had been privy to one of their facetime calls and… they were soulmates without a single doubt. In the world before The Test, Mark and Yuta never would have met at all. It was almost unthinkable now. 

When Renjun sat down in the rigid, wooden chair to take The Test, he remembered all the Youtube videos and articles he’d read about how to cheat to get the results you wanted. Once he sat down, he crossed his right leg over his left, since that was supposed to increase his chances of getting a soulmate shorter than him. Apparently, if you chew mint gum during The Test, your soulmate will be more clean-cut. The more eloquent your answers, the more likely your soulmate is to be smart. 

That’s why Renjun felt so hopelessly perplexed. Sitting in front of him on his dining table was the envelope, torn open in his excitement, that contained the information about his soulmate. Except it didn’t. Where there _should have been_ a profile about his destined-to-be, there was a picture of his annoying neighbor-slash-enemy, Zhong Chenle.   
  


—

“And what’s the issue here?” 

“We are _not_ soulmates, idiot,” Renjun hissed. Chenle raised his brow, pensively licking his ice cream cone. Several dribbles of sticky vanilla rolled down his forearm, and Renjun shoved a handful of napkins at him in disgust. 

“It seems like we are. The Test is rarely wrong.” 

“I know The Test is rarely wrong,” Renjun snapped. “But this time, it is.” 

“What are you so scared of, Jun? Worried you’re gonna fall in love with me?” Chenle taunted him, just like he’d always done. He had a ring of cream around his mouth, and chocolate sticking on his upper lip. Renjun dug his spoon into his Blizzard angrily. Usually, a trip to Dairy Queen never failed to cheer him up, but Chenle made even _ice cream_ seem infuriating. 

“Wipe your mouth, you cretin.”

“Did you just call me a cretin?” 

“Yes.” Renjun rolled his eyes. He scooped a hefty spoonful of ice cream, letting it hover around his lips as he talked. “You can’t seriously think there’s a chance I’m your real soulmate, can you? You don’t want to spend the rest of your life with me as much as I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with you.” 

Chenle looked at him with a hard gaze, suddenly reaching over the table, grabbing his spoon, and flicking the ice cream at Renjun. He didn’t have the time (or the reflexes) to dodge, and a big glob of ice cream slid down his cheek and onto his front. Renjun felt a fiery rage burn bright in the pit of his stomach at the sight of cookies and cream soiling his favorite purple sweater. 

“My soulmate would _never_ do this to me.”

“He just did.” Chenle licked off the spoon and placed it back into Renjun’s cup. 

“You haven’t changed, have you?”

—

Renjun had researched intensely on false pairings in the matching system. They were few and far between, but not impossible. Even so, there was occasionally a kind of placebo effect, and he found several horror stories of people spending lifetimes with people they only _thought_ were their destined soulmate, only to find out there had been a technological blip in The Test. 

However, for every one of those articles, there were ten more accounts of soulmates being absolutely certain they had been paired with the wrong person, but eventually falling completely and madly in love with their partner. Renjun felt sick, closing his laptop and laying back onto his pillows. 

It was late, but he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about… Chenle. He could look outside his window and see that his light was still on. He was awake, probably playing video games and eating corn chips. Renjun rolled his eyes, slumping further into his pillows. 

After a few minutes of contemplation, Renjun got up and threw on a hoodie, tugging at the strings anxiously as he tip-toed out of the house. Chenle was no one to be afraid of. He knew that. And yet, he couldn’t help the way his heart thudded against his chest as he stood outside his window. It was about a foot above the crown of his head, and Renjun had to lift his arm up high to knock on the glass. 

The proceeding moment of silence was just long enough for Renjun to think about running away, perhaps throwing himself into the thicket of thorny bushes to his left. He didn’t have enough time to act, however, before the window slid open and Chenle’s face was hanging over his head. Renjun suddenly felt very small, like a bug. Like a very loathsome bug. 

“Renjun?” Chenle’s voice sounded a little scratchy, like he’d worn it out from yelling (which he probably had, judging by the huge headset covering his ears). Renjun would think it was almost handsome if he didn’t know what he sounded like as a prepubescent boy, high-pitched and mocking in his tone. 

“Can I come in?” 

Chenle looked surprised, but he quickly masked it. “My parents are still in the living room, can you come through the window?” He said in a hushed voice. 

Renjun groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Chenle, I can’t jump up there.”

“I’ll pull you up.”

“There’s no way you could pull me up there.”

“Yes I can,” Chenle said huffily. “I’m stronger than you think.” He reached his hands out, and Renjun never thought he’d see the day that he’d willingly take Zhong Chenle’s hand, but he fitted his palm against his and felt a harsh tug. 

“Ow! Stop, you’re gonna rip my arm out of its socket!” Renjun yelped, and Chenle sheepishly let go of his hands. 

“Sorry, I’ll just come down to you,” he mumbled, swinging a leg out of the window. 

“And how are you going to get back-- _oof.”_ Suddenly, there was a very warm, heavy weight pressed against his chest, and his back was laying on the wet grass. He grimaced as he felt cold water seep through his sweatshirt, shivering at the sudden chill.

“Are you okay?” 

“Get off of me,” Renjun gritted out. Chenle listened, scrambling away from him and sitting on his haunches a safe distance away from Renjun and his murderous gaze. 

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” 

“I’ve been thinking.” Renjun’s heart was doing it again. Pounding. It hurt, made it feel like he couldn’t breathe. It wouldn’t be the first time Chenle had taken his breath away. “What do we do… if we really are soulmates?” 

“We do what soulmates do.” Chenle grinned, not deterred by Renjun’s glare. 

“Gross.” 

“What? You seriously find me _that_ objectionable?” 

Renjun looked at him. Really looked at him. For all his life, Chenle had been the annoying boy next door. The boy who poked fun of him on the playground for being shorter than all the girls. The same boy who was relentlessly doted on by his own mother. He’d always seen Chenle through the lens of an insecure little boy, but looking at him now, as an adult, he saw things a little differently. 

He’d never noticed how strong Chenle’s jaw was. He’d never really thought about his talent for music. The veins on his forearms that popped out whenever he played piano. He’d never seen the brightness in his smile or appreciated the joyfulness of his laugh. Chenle might be tall and messy. He might not have chest hair or speak Italian or be anything like the sexy men from the romance movies Renjun secretly watched under his covers as a kid. But maybe, Renjun had never really known what he wanted. 

But Renjun has never been good at admitting he was wrong. 

“Yes, yes I do.” 

“You came here just to tell me that?” Chenle looked at him blankly. 

“Yeah.”

Chenle didn’t say another word, just sighed and shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his hoodie before walking down the sidewalk, disappearing into shadow as he walked beyond the orange glow of the street light nearest them. 

And that would’ve been how it ended. At least, that’s how it would have ended if Renjun hadn’t felt that inexplicable little tug on his heart. So painful, so unlike anything he’s ever felt before, yet so revealing. Renjun laid back down on the grass, shivering both from the chill and the aching chink in his heart. 

—

When Renjun needed to think, he always ended up at the old park in the woods behind his house. It was only a few minutes’ walk, a slightly overgrown path leading to a dinky little playground with a swingset, slide, seesaw, and sandbox. It wasn’t much, which was why the city had built a shiny new play structure when Renjun was in middle school. He could understand the novelty, but he preferred the forgotten charm of his old childhood stomping grounds. 

There had only been a few children in the neighborhood at that time, and all of them had since moved away to be with their soulmate. Renjun and Chenle were the only two who remained. It was pretty ironic considering… 

Renjun sat down on one of the swings, the metal chains creaking in protest. They were covered in rust, and he was in serious danger of pinching himself, but maybe that was exactly what he needed. 

Looking over at the old sandbox (which was now filled with a cement-like mud) he remembered the time Chenle had thrown sand in his eyes when he’d refused to play hide-and-seek with him in the woods. 

The first time Chenle had gone down the slide, he’d promised he would catch him at the bottom. Renjun remembered laughing when Chenle had landed flat on his face and lost his third baby tooth, his gums bloody and tears running down his face. 

By the seesaw, Chenle had stolen Renjun’s favorite red hat, dangling it over his head and taunting him for being unable to reach it. Chenle had always been taller than him, especially when they were little. He’d thrown the hat into one of the tallest trees in the little patch of forest surrounding the playground, and when Renjun had tried to climb it, he fell from one of the highest branches and broke his pinky. 

It had always been a little crooked since then, and sometimes he rubbed the uneven little bit of bone when he felt especially nervous. 

When he’d returned to the playground a week later, Chenle gave him a hammer and told him to use it to break his pinky. Renjun didn’t do it of course, but he’d delighted at the sight of Chenle grovelling at his feet. 

That’s not how he was supposed to feel about his _soulmate,_ right?

“Renjun?” He jumped, pressed a hand to his pounding heart as Chenle came up the path towards the park. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, who else would I be?” 

Chenle shrugged and shuffled his feet uneasily. “I can go if you want, I know you aren’t interested in--”

“Come sit with me.”

“What?

“I _said,”_ Renjun said annoyedly, “come sit with me.” 

Chenle obeyed, and the swing next to Renjun whined as Chenle sat down next to him. They sat in silence for a moment, and Renjun shuddered as the wind ruffled through his hair. It was a cold spring, but at least the daffodils were still in bloom. 

“I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you,” Renjun said finally. “I think I was just…” He trailed off, gesturing to the sky as if it could help him sort out how he felt. 

“Confused?” 

“Yeah, I guess. I’m not used to it.” Renjun wrung his hands together. He wasn’t used to being vulnerable. Wasn’t used to being messy. At least, not in front of other people. “Things usually go according to plan. And this… this was not a part of the plan, you know?”

“Isn’t that the whole point of destiny? Of fate?” Chenle asked musingly. “That you can’t control it?”

“I don’t like it.” 

“You just have a stick up your butt, Huang.”

“Shut up, Zhong.” Renjun stuck his tongue out at him, and suddenly he was transported very vividly to when they were five years old. Before they had developed a sense of pride or their vicious rivalry. He remembered when Chenle kissed him on the cheek, lips gentle and soft and warm. Renjun remembered grimacing and wiping the spit off his cheek, but he also remembered the strange flutter in his stomach, the way his heartbeat had started pounding like he’d been holding his breath. 

Sort of like now. That strange tugging on his heart as persistent and pervasive as ever. 

“Do you think you’d ever come to like it?” 

“Like what?”

“Destiny.”

Renjun looked over to Chenle sitting on the swing, his hair had gotten all mussed up from the wind, falling all over his face and tickling his eyelashes. He left it like that, though. He was always so messy and so vulnerable. 

Renjun got up from the swing, and Chenle hung his head dejectedly. 

“Look up at me.” 

Chenle did, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as he lifted his face towards Renjun. The apples of his cheeks were red, and the splintered edges of his hair were still messily strewn all over his face. Without thinking, without planning ahead, Renjun reached up and brushed the strands out of Chenle’s eyes, neatly arranging his hair so it was in the proper place on his head. All a messy boy needed was a tidy boy to clean him up. 

“I think maybe I can…” Renjun whispered, so quiet his words were almost carried off by the wind. “I think maybe destiny is exactly what I need.”

Renjun leant down and kissed the blushing apple of Chenle’s cheek, surrounded by the bones of their childhood battleground. Chenle might be a messy brat. He might tease him for his height and sometimes he’s too confident for his own good. But really, what did that matter? Because that night, Chenle’s toothy smile was the last thing on his mind when he went to sleep. 

And the next morning, he was the first thing he thought of when he woke up.


End file.
